Did Your Parents Read Comics?

[Bad Wolf]

Surprisingly, they did a Galactus and Doctor Doom special

Funny, both of those covers appear to be painted-over images from the original comics, with the Silver Surfer changed to Kaliman.

My parents never read comics, to my knowledge. It's possible my dad might have read some as a kid, but it had no influence on me whatsoever.

[edhopper]

When we were younger, Mom made us throw out our comics (too much clutter).
Included in those was Amazing Fantasy #15.
Latter in Jr High School, when I started collecting, both parents supported my hobby.

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

Yes. Ma read Little Lulu and the like growing up, and has gone through Sandman, Preacher, Starman, and some of Alan Moore's oeuvre in adulthood (Moore crooning the 'Lulu' theme on The Simpsons' "Husbands & Knives" episode floored her, as I recall).

And not-so-dear-old Dad came up during the 60's Marvel boom (his fave was the Silver Surfer, I believe).

[shaxper]

My mom read them casually. She and her four sisters had a small stack. My mom revises a given memory every time she recalls it, so it's hard to say what that stack consisted of, but this would have been the late 1940s.

Sadly, my dad wasn't into comics. He was born the same year Batman made his first appearance, and yet he was always serious minded and trying to impress his father by being involved in the family grocery store. His only guilty pleasures were Lionel Trains and listening to the noir/horror radio show "Lights Out."

[Jolly Mon]

None of my "parental figures" had any interest in comics, though my father had at least passing knowledge of comic strips because he eventually told me they pulled my given name from the comics ("Dennis the Menace").

The (for lack of a better term) "stepfather" had no interest or toleration for anything that involved the slightest bit of imagination, commonly referring to it as "fantastic bullsh*t".

I vaguely remember at least one comic purge by my mother when I was very young, but the few comics I still have from childhood either came after that or were missed. I don't remember for sure which, but by the date of the comics I'd guess they came after.

Definitely no encouragement, bare toleration (as long as I didn't bother them too much with requests to stop at convenience stores), and no indications that any of them ever read any significant amount of comics.

[Jezebel Bond]

Mine do on a casual basis, although dad used to get lots of British comics at the newsagents with a preference for war comics. It's not uncommon to see mom leafing through something lying around and she loves Archies.

Both my parents and in-laws also keep an eye out for books at sales. They don't fret about highly priced back issue or variants either, as dad collects stamps and goes to auctions.

[Rob Allen]

Both of my parents were fans.

My father was 12 when Superman debuted in Action #1. He was already a big fan of newspaper comic strips. His favorites were the aviation adventurers - Tailspin Tommy, Smilin' Jack, etc. From ages 12 to 17, he and his friends bought, read and traded superhero comic books - Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Human Torch, etc. When he turned 17 it was 1942 and he joined the Marines. Others in the military back then read comics, according to histories that I've read, but my dad said he never saw another comic book after he joined the Marines until I started buying them at age 6. He did continue to read newspaper strips; the first comics I ever saw were Sunday newspaper comics that he read to me. He identified with Dagwood at that point in his life.

My mother was even more into comic books than he was. She was only 6 when Action #1 was published. A couple of years later, she and her older sister were so into comics that they took over an unused shed in their back yard and turned it into what might be the world's first comic book shop. They sold used comic books for a nickel, or they took other comics in trade, two-for-one. That's how they built up their stock. The shop lasted a few years but eventually fell victim to the paper drives of World War II.

Both of them saw comics as something they liked as kids but outgrew. They may have been surprised that I didn't outgrow them but never objected.

[foxley]

My parents didn't read comics, but were of the firm opinion that if their kids had an interest in reading, then that interest should be encouraged, regardless of what they were reading. So they were happy for me to read comics.

[Captain Jim]

No, alas, neither one of them. If they would have, it would have been golden age stuff. I did find a few comics in my grandparents' attic many years ago which must have been my aunt's. Nothing very interesting; mostly no-name funny animal stuff like Coo Coo Comics. The most interesting one was an issue of Doll-Man.

My dad did like to read my comics when I was a kid, though. He was especially fond of my Spider-Man's. I didn't really like him to read them, though, because he always treated them very roughly. When I'd ask him not to bend the covers, he'd say, "Shut up, it's just a stupid funnybook." This would have been in the early 1960's.

[Ood Omega]

No but they bought me my first Cracked & Mad Magazine as well as my first super-hero comic books, Detective Comics and Marvel Tales presents Spider-Man.

[dupersuper]

My mother read some to me as bed time stories. My father has mentioned liking Archie a a kid.

[AZBarbarian]

My Dad read comics as a kid. He has a specific comic book memory of when my grandfather was doing some remodeling of a home in the mid 1940s. My dad showed up one day on the job and the woman whose house was being remodeled gave him her son's Captain America Comics collection. He remembers it as a run from #1 to about #50. Like most kids of that time period, he read the heck out of them, traded them around, and basically destroyed/lost them. He always loved fantasy and super heroes and is probably the biggest influence on why I like those genre's today.

My Mother often bought me Mad and Cracked when we would go to the grocery store, but she never read any comics.

Dad was intrigued by my collection. Mom always said to save anything that could possibly be collectible. Ironically I never saved my Mad or Cracked magazines - I didn't think of them as comics.

[benday-dot]

My mother was always very tolerant of my comic collecting, though she had no interest in funny books herself.

My father had told me as a kid he used to read Captain Marvel and Bugs Bunny. But his favourites were Plastic Man and Popeye.

[hondobrode]

Neither of my parents read comic books that I know of, though they both enjoyed certain comic strips, and they had paperback collections of strips including Pogo and Peanuts.

My dad would read some of mine and particularly enjoyed Tarzan and Conan. He never cared for the superheroes, tho he now enjoys all the comic movies.

He also greatly enjoyed Prince Valiant in the funnies.

As kids, my dad would use this as leverage to get work out of us. He'd buy our comics in return for helping him with projects. Later on we bought our own, of course.

[zryson]

I never really knew my father so I can't say. As for my Mother, I think she read some, but I can't be sure. All I can say for certain, is that there was certainly an awareness of comic books on my Mother's side but I got into comics because of myself. It was something borne out of my natural love of reading. So I saw it as an extension of that.